June 26, 2011

This evening's program included a number of compositions written by the band’s namesake, Karl L. King.  Those featured were his march, Iowa Centennial, his famous galop, The Big Cage, and a beautiful aerial waltz, Mystic Night. The novelty featuring the trombone section, Mournful Maggie was not performed because the concert was shortened when rain threatened.

Other marches performed were Roland Seitz’s Salutation, John Philip Sousa’s Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and former Iowa State and University of Iowa bandmaster Frank Piersol’s tribute to Max Whitlock, the long-time band director at South Hamilton Schools in Jewell, Maxi-March.

The evening’s overture was from the opera, Norma, by Sicilian-born composer Vincenzo Bellini.  His music abounds in delightful melodies and in his short life, he wrote 10 operas among other works.  Of these, universal prominence is given to Norma, regarded as one of the great masterpieces of operatic literature.  It was first performed at the La Scala Opera House in Milan in December 1831.  It received its first performance in America ten years later.

The rain-shortened program meant Ferde Grofe’s overture Mississippi Suite and The Golden Age of Broadway, a medley of highlights from several Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals were planned but not heard.

Time was taken for a special feature, the playing of Adeline Shepherd’s 1906 ragtime song, Pickles and Peppers, performed by all six members of the Trumpet section.

The concert closed after about 40 minutes with the playing of our National Anthem, The Star-spangled Banner.